The great thing about THATCamps is that sessions and schedules are proposed by and agreed upon by the attendees. That means that what we talk about and what we do on Sunday will be up to all of you, the CAMPERS. In order to get things started, you the people need to post proposals for sessions to this blog. This is where you get to express what you find interesting in the field of museums/archives/cultural heritage and technology and to . The more talk there is about the sessions prior to THATCamp Museums NYC, the faster we can get going on the Saturday morning, so please join in and help us out!
Here are some topics from your applications to get your brains started:
- Digital Pedagogy in Study of Art History and Material Culture
- Best Practices in Institutional Digital Strategies
- Digital Repatriation of Aboriginal Objects
- Connections Between Digital and Physical Objects
- Game-based Approaches within Museums
- Digital Archiving and Preservation of Photographic, Performing and Multi-media Arts
- Integration of Object Data and Bibliographical Data
- Copyright & Licensing Issues Surrounding the Digitization of Art & Use of Art Images
- Linked Open Data-Libraries, Archives, and Museums
- Mobile Applications as Pedagogy and Museum Experiences
- Future of Visual and Multimedia Storytelling for Museums
- Application and Evolution of Metadata Standards
As far as process goes, you should all now have an account and username that will allow you to log in and add a post to this blog. The site uses WordPress and the process for adding a post should be either familiar or relatively easy to figure out. If you are having problems with that process or are ensure of just how the whole THATCamp proposal process works feel free to email us at thatcampmuseumsnyc[at]bgc[dot]bard[dot]edu. Alternatively you can visit the very helpful Propose a Session page on the THATCamp home site. There is a good explanation of the whole process there as well as good examples of posts from other THATCamps.
Lastly, remember that this is an UNconference. Creative, out-of-the-box, and even fun and playful ideas are in play here, and the more diverse the sessions the more enriching the whole experience will prove to be for everyone.
History on the Hoof (Mobilizing History)
While commercial applications of virtual reality explode on your mobile screen, the history potential of the smart phone valiantly struggles to catch up. The Digital Humanities team of Kathleen Hulser and Steve Bull have been experimenting with history on the hoof. They concoct augmented reality scenarios that turn the smart phone into a history translator that conjures buried archival materials into real world contexts. Two recent forays show the potential for plucking history from the scholarly realm and popping it into surprising settings. “Tecumseh” summons an image of the Shawnee leader who tried to found a Pan-Indian Nation, during the War of 1812. No, Indians
aren’t erased from the history, they’ve just been waiting in your mobile to re-materialize. Bull lurked amidst classical busts in the gardens of the Villa dei Pini, Bogliasco ITALY, to install “inVisible Presence” using augmented reality to make the men of marble mobilize their thoughts.
Does this mean that only the fortunate 90 people who signed up first can propose sessions?
Part of the responsibility of the proposers is to kick off the conversation, so being able to attend the session is an important part of the proposal. If you have an idea to throw into the mix however, please put it forward here or to thatcampmuseumsnyc[at]bgc[dot]bard[dot]edu and we will try to get it into the weekend’s conversation. We are trying to share as much of the event as possible so you’ll probably get a chance to see some artifact of the conversation at some point.
I’m not sure I want to propose an entire session, as this is my first time, and I’m certain about the demand for what I would propose. I wouldn’t mind participating in a general session about what job museums and archives do, and if they face disruption by good-enough alternatives that might or might not be in the same business space. If people think that this would be interesting, I wouldn’t mind trying to come up with something based off of Clayton Christensen’s work on Disruption Theory.
Chris, you should feel free to propose anything you are interested in, and particularly the topic you address above. The best thing about THATCamps is that newbies can and should help lead the conversation. We have a lot of session opening and a group of people that I am sure will be interested in the kinds of things you are talking about so definitely make a proposal!